Word Game

ABSTRACT

A word game and method of playing the word game comprising providing a main word or phrase (“Theme Word”), and a group of existing words (“Puzzle Words”), wherein each letter from the Theme Word is used once to form a different word (“Solved Word”) when added to a Puzzle Word. In one example form of the game, multiple letters from the Theme Word may be added to a single Puzzle Word to form a single Solved Word. The letters from the Theme Word may be added anywhere to the Puzzle Word in order to form a new Solved Word. In one example form, the order of the letters in Puzzle Word may not be changed. In another example form of the game, the letter from the Theme Word may not be added to the end of the Puzzle Word. The game will be considered solved when all of the letters of the Theme Word have been successfully combined once with a Puzzle Word such that each letter has been used with a Puzzle Word to form a Solved Word.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Example methods and games relate generally to a word game, and in particular, to a “word-creating” game.

Numerous word games are known as shown in patents issued in U.S. Pat. No. 6,623,009 to Kraemer et al. on 23 Sep. 2003; U.S. Pat. No. 6,279,911 to Cherry on 28 Aug. 2001; U.S. Pat. No. 5,799,239 to LeBriton et al. on 4 Aug. 1998; and U.S. Pat. No. 5,586,765 to Lackey on 24 Dec. 1996. Some of these games require the player to unscramble letters to form words. Others require the player to formulate words that begins with or contains certain letters. It is believed that such games may improve the players' vocabulary and spelling. Such benefits may be achieved by other types of word-creating games.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In some example forms of the game, every letter that makes up the spelling of a main word or phrase (“Theme Word”) and is to be taken and added to a group of existing words (“Puzzle Words”) in order to form a group of different words (“Solved Words”) wherein each letter in the Theme Word may only be used once per puzzle.

Some example forms relate to a method and word game, and more specifically to an educational, puzzle word game and method designed to be entertaining, and directed to improving spelling, vocabulary, and language skills, as well as, deductive problem solving proficiency, challenging players at various levels. The method and word game seeks to exercise the mind and improve a player's cognitive, intellectual and information processing abilities through downloadable electronic game programs.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates an example word game.

FIG. 2 illustrates an example screen shot in an electronic form of the game where the screen shot shows an initial look for the word game where there are three puzzle words.

FIG. 3 illustrates an example screen shot in an electronic form of the game where the screen shot shows an initial look for the word game where there are four puzzle words.

FIG. 4 illustrates an example screen shot in an electronic form of the game where the screen shot shows an initial look for the word game where there are five puzzle words.

FIG. 5 illustrates an example screen shot in an electronic form of the game where the screen shot shows an initial look for the word game where there are six puzzle words.

FIG. 6 illustrates an example screen shot in an electronic form of the game where the screen shot shows the word game after the game has begun and a first letter is selected for movement into one of the puzzle words.

FIG. 7 illustrates an example screen shot in an electronic form of the game where the screen shot shows the word game after the game has begun and three letters from the theme word have been added to three of the puzzle words.

FIG. 8 illustrates an example screen shot similar to FIG. 7 where the screen shot shows the word game after a player has entered the final letter of the theme word incorrectly into the last unsolved puzzle word.

FIG. 9 illustrates an example screen shot after the game has ended.

FIG. 10 illustrates another example screen shot after the game has ended.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

This application claims the benefit of the original filing of the Provisional Patent Ser. No. 62/055,490 on Sep. 25, 2014.

Before the methods and word games are explained in detail, it is to be understood that the example methods and word games described herein are not limited in its application to the details of construction and the arrangements of the components set forth in the following description or illustrated in the drawings. The methods and word games described herein are capable of other forms and of being practiced or being carried out in various ways. Also, it is understood that the phraseology and terminology used herein is for the purpose of description and should not be regarded as limiting. The use of “including”, “having”, and “comprising” and variations thereof herein is meant to encompass the items listed thereafter and equivalents thereof as well as additional items. One example form relates to a method of playing a word game that may be played individually or as a group. A main word or phrase, Theme Word, is provided as the focus of each individual game along with a group of Puzzle Words. The Puzzle Words may or may not be related to the Theme word. Each letter from the Theme Word is used once in combination with a Puzzle Word to form a different word called the Solved Word.

Herein, each combination of Theme Word and Puzzle Word is a puzzle, where a game can consist of or comprise one or more puzzles.

The rules for solving the puzzle are as follows. Each letter in the Theme Word must be used only once as it is added to one of the Puzzle Words to form a Solved Word.

Ultimately, the game is solved when each letter in the Theme Word has been added once to one of the Puzzle Words to form, singly or in combination with another letter, one of the Solved Words.

The games are created with varying degrees of difficulty. Easier games may consist of a grouping of Puzzle Words that are more obvious to solve than other, less obvious, groupings of Puzzle Words. The easier games allow the player to quickly recognize an obvious choice for a letter to be added in order to form a Solved Word.

Also, easier games may have only one letter from the Theme Word added to each Puzzle Word to form the Solved Word. Easier games allow younger children or others with lower cognitive functions to play these games both for fun and for improving their word recognition, vocabulary, and deductive problem solving skills.

A puzzle may be made more difficult by making the conversion from Puzzle Word to Solved Word more difficult to determine. Other ways of making the game more challenging include having Puzzle Words that require several letters to form Solved Words or allowing or requiring the order of the letters of the Puzzle Words to be rearranged in addition to having to add the letter or letters from the Theme Word.

Contributing to the difficulty of the game, the game can be played by multiple players as contests where the winner is the first person or team to solve the game or with the shortest time to solution. A puzzle may also be made more challenging or difficult to solve by having theme words, or phrases, consisting of a larger amount of letters. The theme words could range from two letters to twelve letters, and beyond. In this example form, there would be a corresponding number of puzzle words to add letters to, from the theme word, in order to form the solved words.

In one example form, the game is a single puzzle with one Theme Word that can be used to form a group of Solved Words from a group of Puzzle Words printed on a sheet of paper, such as that of a newspaper or magazine. In another example form of the game, multiple puzzles are printed in, for example, a book. In a further example form, the game is a group of puzzles that is part of a board game where players who can more quickly solve the puzzles can race to a pre-determined goal by moving or accumulating game pieces. The game can also be provided in an electronic format where the puzzle is downloaded from an electronic memory to be displayed on an output device such as, but not limited to, a monitor or a television, and the player can use input devices such as, but not limited to, a mouse or keyboard to select letters to enter into Puzzle Words to form Solved Words. Such games may be made available through a local or wide area network, or through the internet, where players can collaborate or compete in solving the puzzles.

In addition, the word game may be played electronically, such as on a computer or a hand held device.

As an example, one way for a game to become more difficult is the ability of a single letter in the Theme Word to be added to several different Puzzle Words. Using the Puzzle Word “BET” and the letters “A” and “S” from the Theme Word “SAMPSON”, the Solved Word could either be “BEAT” or “BEST”. To find the right Solved Word for “BET”, a player may have to find a solution that also solves another Puzzle Word such as “PAT” that can only use one of the letters “A” or “S”. In this case, adding “A” to “PAT” cannot create a new word, but adding “S” to “PAT” can create the new word “PAST.” By deductive reasoning, the appropriate letter to add to “BET” has to be “A” to form the word “BEAT”.

In the foregoing example, if multiple letters can be used, the Solved Word could also be “BEAST”. To make the puzzle even more difficult for the foregoing example, the Solved Word may be based upon adding one or more letters to a re-arrangement of the Puzzle Word letters to form the word “BASTE”.

The degree of difficulty and complexity in the game is increased as more letters in the Theme Word can be added to several Puzzle Words. The game may consist of a number of deductive reasoning solutions of letters that could then make the game more challenging for the player. The more Puzzle Words that allow interchangeable letters to form Solved Words, the more difficult the game may be to solve. Further, difficulty can be increased by having some Puzzle Words will not have a letter or letters added so that there are more Puzzle Words than required to use up the letters of the Theme Word.

Furthermore, additional limitations such as prohibiting the addition of a letter to the end of a Puzzle Word or requiring the use of the letter in between letters of the Puzzle Word may also increase the difficulty of the game.

These added layers of difficulty may, of course, be combined to produce even more difficult games. The more difficult games allow a player to progress from easy to difficult as they get better at the skills needed to solve the game. This would allow the games to be put together into a game of progression where the player starts at an easy level and progresses through incrementally higher degrees of difficulty. The player then can gauge his gained skills, if any, by attempting and completing more games and getting further into the progression of difficulty.

FIG. 1 illustrates an embodiment of the present invention where the Theme Word 10 is “MAGELLAN” and the Puzzle Words, 21-28 are “SOAR”, “COST”, “ROUND”, “ANGER”, “LOG”, “GUST”, “ATE”, and “ISLE”, respectively. By adding the letter “L” from “Magellan” to “SOAR” the player arrives at Solved Word 31 “SOLAR.” The other Solved Words 32-38 are “COAST”, “GROUND”, “MANGER”, “LONG”, “GUEST”, “LATE”, and “AISLE”, respectively. In this illustration “ATE” could potentially form the Solved Word “GATE”. However, the letter “L” cannot be used with “ROUND” to form a Solved Word, so “GATE” cannot be an appropriate solution given the Theme Word and Puzzle Words provided in the puzzle.

In some forms of the game, a player is presented with a group of words, which makes up one puzzle, on an electronic screen (see, e.g., FIGS. 2-5). The group of words are formed with letters that are inside movable tiles that will consist of a main word (referred to as the Theme Word), distinguished from the other words in the puzzle by the color of the tiles of the word, in order to set it apart from the other words in the puzzle.

The other words in the group of words are referred to as the Puzzle Words and may, or may not be, related to the Main or Theme Word in the puzzle, The Puzzle Word tiles are a different color from the Theme Word tiles. As an example, these Puzzle Words also have letters that are within movable tiles, however, these tiles will only move far enough to allow a tile from the Theme Word to fit between them and then lock in place.

As an example, the Solved Words, Puzzle Words and/or the Theme Word may both be related to common subject matter. Some examples include, but are not limited to sports (e.g., football), holidays, charitable organizations, faith-based topics. As another example, the Solved Words, Puzzle Words and the Theme Word may be part of an educational curriculum. It should be noted that the games may include an age appropriate level of difficulty and learning depending on the educational curriculum.

Play may be initiated by the player selecting one of the tiled letters in the Theme Word with a cursor or finger (or other selective device for electronic equipment) and sliding or moving it to one of the Puzzle Words on the screen (see, e.g., FIG. 6). The player may direct the tile to decide where to lock the tile in place in one of the chosen Puzzle Words, either between two letters or at the front of the Puzzle Word, in order to form a new word, with a different meaning. The player may attempt to form the new word by selecting the correct Puzzle Word and the correct position within the Puzzle Word to place the letter from the Theme Word.

FIG. 7 illustrates an example screen shot in an electronic form of the game where the screen shot shows the word game after the game has begun and three letters from the theme word have been added to three of the puzzle words.

The selection of the proper Puzzle Word and, where the letter tile is placed in the Puzzle Word, is important to solving the puzzle. The letter tile from the Theme Word will remain a different color than the letters in the Puzzle Words when it is placed in a Puzzle Word (see, FIGS. 2-5). This color difference is in order to keep track of the Theme Word letters that are being placed in the Puzzle Words, in case they need to be removed and replaced within the Puzzle Word or to be moved to a different Puzzle Word in order to finish with the solving of the puzzle.

In this example form, when all of the letters from the Theme Word have been placed in the Puzzle Words, in order to form new Addalet Words, the electronic program will indicate which letters are correct by changing the letters to third color and those letters will then remain in the Solved Words. If any of the tiles were placed in the wrong Puzzle Word or wrong place in a correct Puzzle Word, they will turn a different color and automatically move back to the Theme Word in order for the player to attempt to solve the puzzle correctly (see e.g., FIG. 8). When all of the tiles are in their proper words and place within the words to form new Addalet words, all of the inserted tiles will turn the color that indicates that they are correct by changing the color of all Theme Word letters, in green, and the puzzle is solved.

In some example forms of the game, once the Puzzle is solved and all the Addalet Words have been correctly created, from the letters of the Theme Word, the game will automatically go to the next screen that will indicate the time that it took to solve the puzzle. Once the game is solved and the score and time is indicated on the screen, the player will have the option at that point to continue to the next puzzle or to read the definitions of the Solved Words. In other versions, the Theme Word will also have definitions and/or expanded references to enhance a player's knowledge of the word or phrase, along with definitions of the Solved Words (see, e.g., FIG. 10).

In some forms of the game, the game may allow players to play the game singly.

There are also forms of the game that will incorporate social media to allow for players to participate and interact via the internet by challenging and competing with others that are also playing the game in order to determine who is able to solve the games quicker or more accurately. Scoring and bonus points will be awarded for pre-determined levels of solution times and correctness (see, e.g., FIG. 9).

As an example, the games described herein may be on a computer or on hand held devices that are linked together. In these example forms of the game, the word lists and scoring rules would be found on databases that would be installed on the computer and/or hand held device.

In addition, the electronic device may include other database and parameters that would control and/or operate the game. The game board may also be illustrated on the screen of the computer monitor or hand held device. When played on the computer, the game may be played with other players around the world using the internet by downloading the appropriate software, databases and parameters onto the individual computers or hand held devices including, but not limited to, cell phones.

Other forms of the game include paper and printed puzzles such as, but not limited to, newspapers, magazines, paperback books, other periodicals, game boards, card games, daily lesson plans within school curriculums through printed or electronic games, religious study unit plays, ACT programs, calendars, and restaurant placemats.

Finally, all references, including any priority document, cited herein are hereby incorporated by reference. While the present invention has been described in considerable detail, it will be obvious to those skilled in the art that alterations may be made in the game itself or in the method for playing the game without departing from the concept and scope of the present invention as described in the following claims. 

I claim:
 1. A method of playing a game comprising: providing a Theme Word; providing a Puzzle Word; and combining a letter in the Theme Word with the Puzzle Word to create a new Solved Word, wherein the Solved Words, Puzzle Words and/or the Theme Word are both related to common subject matter.
 2. The method of claim 1 wherein the common subject matter is football.
 3. The method of claim 1 wherein the common subject matter is a charity.
 4. The method of claim 1, wherein the common subject matter is a holiday.
 5. A method of playing a game comprising: providing a Theme Word; providing a Puzzle Word; and combining a letter in the Theme Word with the Puzzle Word to create a new Solved Word, wherein the Solved Words, Puzzle Words and/or the Theme Word are part of an educational curriculum.
 6. The method of claim 5 wherein the educational curriculum includes age appropriate games.
 7. A method of playing a game comprising: providing a Theme Word; providing a Puzzle Word; combining a letter in the Theme Word with the Puzzle Word to create a new Solved Word; and providing definitions of the Theme Word and the Solved Words to enhance learning the Theme Word and the Solved Words.
 8. The method of claim 7 further comprising providing pictures of the Theme Word and the Solved Words to enhance learning the Theme Word and the Solved Words.
 9. A method of playing a game comprising: providing a Theme Word; providing a Puzzle Word; combining a letter in the Theme Word with the Puzzle Word to create a new Solved Word; and measuring the amount of time it takes to complete the game.
 10. The method of claim 9 further comprising displaying the amount of time it takes to complete the game.
 11. A method of playing a game comprising: providing a Theme Word; providing a Puzzle Word; combining a letter in the Theme Word with the Puzzle Word to create a new Solved Word; and displaying a score once the game is completed that represents performance in playing the game.
 12. The method of claim 11 wherein the performance in playing the game is determined by the number of right and wrong insertion of letters into the Puzzle Words to create Solved Words.
 13. A method of playing a game comprising: providing a Theme Word; providing a Puzzle Word; combining a letter in the Theme Word with the Puzzle Word to create a new Solved Word; and providing an opportunity for multiple players to compete against one another when playing the game.
 14. The method of claim 13 wherein providing an opportunity for multiple players to compete against one another when playing the game includes providing an opportunity for multiple players to simultaneously compete against one another when playing the game.
 15. The method of claim 13 wherein providing an opportunity for multiple players to compete against one another when playing the game includes providing an opportunity for multiple players to play the game over the Internet.
 16. The method of claim 1 wherein the game is played over the Internet using an electronic device. 